Flood Insurance

If it is what I pay in Miami you are going to be hurtin. Land lease and flood insurance? ouch. maybe you should rethink.

FYI, you don't need flood insurance in Washington Heights.

very useful comment matt. i'm sure lovebpc is happy to hear that.

Many of us in NYC have heard horror stories about flood insurance where the risk is near zero. Unbelievable, please name the carrier.

Our building (in Battery Park City) was able to get a Letter of Map Amendment from FEMA. This ridiculous flood insurance issue is final resolved for us here. Contact the building's managing agent and see if this option is available for you.

Our bank required flood and homeowner's insurance, but we were just added to the condo's insurance policy with our bank added as a certificate holder.It did not cost us anything extra.

"FYI, you don't need flood insurance in Washington Heights."

Ironic, since probably the biggest damage due to rainwater/groundwater in Manhattan occurred there.

http://nyc.gov/html/dob/downloads/pdf/castle_village_report.pdf

And, separate from the landslide victory, a lot of what's commonly referred to as Washington Heights in the valley.

That was more the fcuk-up of Castle Village's Board of Directors than anything else.

how many buildings in nyc need flood insurance? is it only required for mortgages? presumably it is only needed to cover your apartment contents and walls/kitchen rebuilding but the building itself has some master coverage....but does the master coverage cover the cost of removing mold damage throughout the building which can be extremely expensive if serious?...

if you look at this map it seems many areas are at risk:

http://www.nyc-arecs.org/hurricane_map_english_06.pdf

Yes. Many areas are at risk; when I tried to obtain flood insurance, it ended up being impossible. It's a good thing to have, but actually getting it is very difficult (although, I do not own my apartment so I gave up pursuing it after a while).

evnyc, if that is the case then the key issue may be what the master policy of the building covers? Does it exclude flood; does it cover mold removal which can cost a fortune, in some cases hundreds of thousands in a large damaged home.

I think BPC requires underwater insurance as well.

{underwater insurance= the rewquirement of 50% or down payment} :)

errr "50% or more"

Well, since I don't own and don't particularly care what happens to the building - that's the landlord's problem, not mine - I was quite surprised at how difficult it was to obtain. My policy excludes damage to the contents of my apartment due to flooding, which seems to be a standard exclusion for renter's policies. All I wanted was something that would replace the contents of my home in the event of a flood, which wouldn't have to be very much.

Instead, I self-insure with a hefty savings account.

This was a major issue for me when it came to selling my condo in Soho. The quick summary... Building was first occupied after 2000. As all new condos seem to do they like to keep the monthlies low, so in this effort the board (or developer perhaps) purchased a bare minimum level of flood insurance. It turns out that FEMA requires $250k per unit for condos, no idea how co-ops work on this issue. Well during the bubble days banks didn't care or didn't notice that the building lacked adequate coverage, so nobody had problems financing. Now banks actually do the work, and finally caught up to the building.

I had a contract signed and ratified. A day before closing bank calls up purchaser and tells them they need to purchase additional flood insurance to cover the building's shortfall. Annual premium was something like $10-15k, so it was material. Buyer failed to close so I kept the deposit. Had to fight with the board to make them realize they were impeding my ability to transfer property. Extra insurance cost the building something like $25-30k a year, and since we had a healthy reserve it was no big deal. Took them three days to add the extra coverage. It was a very big hassle for me however, as I had already moved and was left with an apartment going back on the market after having been under contract, so definitely looked like there was a problem outstanding with the unit and/or building. Luckily got another contract shortly after it was relisted at same price, and since the building carried the proper amount of flood coverage at that point the closing went through fine.

Just a head's up to all potential sellers. Check out your building's flood zone and related coverage before you list! It can save you a tremendous amount of hassle. Purchasing the policy on your own is ridiculously expensive and you can't shop for it as FEMA determines the rate, at least in high risk zones.

And the follow-on head's up to current owners in high risk flood zones. If your lender discovers this issue in your building while underwriting a loan (purchase or refi) for any unit in your building you will likely get a nice letter in the mail telling you to purchase more insurance or the bank will purchase it for you and bill you for it. Not fun. Get on your board now to fix it.

I'm in the process of purchasing a co-op in midtown west and have been told by several insurance companies that I must purchase flood insurance because my unit is on the 2nd floor. Apparently flood insurance is now mandatory for 1st and 2nd floor dwellings in NYC. Anyone have any insight on this? Thanks!

That sounds loony.

Flood risk has little to do with what floor your apartment is on - it's a risk to the building, and the risk depends on elevation and distance from the rivers. BPC is in a flood zone because it's right on the water. The hillier parts of the UWS are not - if you have to walk down three long flights of steps and across a couple hundred yards of Riverside Park to get to the river, then the river won't be coming to you anytime soon, however bad the storm.

The FEMA map is here http://gis.nyc.gov/dob/fm/manhattan.htm I believe (I grew up in a little NJ town with flooding issues) that you can't even buy flood insurance unless FEMA rates you for it (and then you have to). Large swaths of Manhattan are not rated.

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/10/13/us/cost-of-flood-insurance-rises-along-with-worries.html?hp